The Monster Jam

I got home from Kathy and Nam's last night, thinking we had gained an extra hour to watch movies and thinking I was going home at 3:30 A.M..

In case you didn't know, thanks to something called the U.S. Energy Policy Savings Act of 2006, this year Day Light Savings comes the first Sunday of November beginning in year 2007. Thanks to the Americans, I got home at 4:30 A.M..

So this weekend was The Weekend for those of us who are too old to celebrate Halloween and go trick-or-treating but young enough to lose our dignities for one night to dress up.

On Friday, Richard invited us to a Halloween jam that was going on right here in Mississauga. It was a lot better and cheaper than going downtown to one of those other parties, so we opted to check out this jam. It was being thrown by one of his friends at some banquet hall.

Now, we all know Halloween is a time, especially for women, to have an excuse to dress up to show our true colours. This year, I went as a stripper... dressed as a cop (not a slutty cop). We all know how much I believe in the sanctity of police enforcement.

The party turned out better than I expected. The setting of the party kinda reminded me of a highschool dance, because there was a stage and it was like being in a gymnasium. They even played some old school R&B and hip hop at the beginning and it was just like being at a school dance. Loves it. It was also a little like being at a house party because the cheap booze was flowing and flowing a-plenty.

Costume parties are always a hoot. Even though it was last minute, I think we all came up with some fantastic costumes: Mel, fortune-teller; Megan (who really got in at the very last minute), Strawberry Shortcake; Richard, mobster; Devlin and Rum Rum, Aladdin and Abu; Sarah S., fairy; Cuong, that guy from Scream (but mostly from the neck up); Vicki, Athena; Diane, Lil Red Riding Hood; Sarah C., Batgirl (third year in a row!); Jonny, pirate; Neil, dirt-bike racer; Paul, mechanic; and Peter, Dorothy (it was Vicki's costume from last year, with a lil more rips for him to squeeze into it!). For some reason, Nick assumed that everyone would just take off their masks and costumes as soon as we got in the party, so he just dressed as himself and brought a Saddam Hussein mask. Boy, was he wrong! He couldn't see in the mask, so he ended up just putting in his pocket and was Nick for the rest of the night. Haha. There were some really good costumes and a lot of typical one (witch, pirates, etc.). The pics will give you an idea of what they were like:

^A banana and the Statue of Liberty

^Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!

^Mario and Luigi in their Mario Karts

^Lego!

^Man in Shower

^Male Dorothy finds Female Dorothy!

^Ninja Turtles!

^A penis and a Whoopie Cushion

^Oompa Loompa

^His costume was lame, but it worked

^Strawberry Shortcake and plain ol' Nick

^Some boxer

^Zorro

^I don't think those were costumes, I think they were actual Mississauga road workers

Remember how I said the opportunity to put on a costume gives one a chance to be someone they're not for one night? This theory proved so true for Cuong. When we go to parties, he's usually not one to be try and hit on a girl. Whoever was under that Scream mask was not Cuong. At least, not the Cuong we know. I barely saw him during the night as he was all over the party dancing with everyone. Too bad he can't wear masks to clubs on regular nights. It was also a shame that the lights were off because when I looked at my camera after, I realized that in the light, there were a lot of hot guys there. Damn. Of course, no Halloween party is complete without a costume contest. The prize: $100 cash. There were alot that deserved to be up there, some not so much:

^Lego doing the Robot

^SPARTACUS!

^Pimpette showing some ass

^Some Black chick showing some ass

^Hippie hippie shake

^Charlie Brown

^Rock, Paper & Scissors

^That guy from The Trailer Park Boys

^Viagara Man

^An escaped Oompa Loompa from the Chocolate Factory

And the winner is....

^The lades with the winners: Rock, Paper and Scissors!

CiRCA is WhEIRD

Do you know that feeling when you feel exhaustion in your eyes? It's like it hurts to keep your eyes open but it feels oh so good to have them closed. I took a nap this afternoon but I will definitely be turning in early tonight.

I woke up this morning at 9 am from about 5 hours of sleep to meet up with Ishara for breakfast downtown. The things I do to keep up with my social calendar. I don't know how I managed to go shopping with her either (and drop about $100 on shoes...). I came home and collapsed in front of the T.V., the first time in the entire weekend I've had a chance to do that.

On Friday I had the most awful stomachache. I had to forego checking out that new club, CiRCA and Poker. It was that bad. I could barely stand and I was in so much pain all night I could barely sleep. This was all due to not eating that day. You know when you get a stomachache when you don't eat? Eventually your stomach just tries to eat itself. I think someone once told me it's called a gaseous ulcer, or something. Regardless, it hurt like a merciless bitch.

It really sucked that I had to get it on Friday, because it totally wasted my Friday night. Waiting for the next day was painstaking because I was so looking forward to the pain going away. And it did go away, thank goodness.

On Saturday afternoon I went to some art exhibit with my parents. It is out of the ordinary that I would go to an art exhibit, let alone with my parents because we're not that interesting. However, it was surprisingly pretty good. See, my dad's pretty artsy and knows alot of interesting things that I would not expect an Asian parent to know. It's really sad how little I know about Canadian culture and he wasn't even born here. Ha. He was like our art tour guide and knew alot of stuff about the 'Group of Seven' (which oddly enough, is not comprised of seven Canadian artists anymore). The only one I recognized was Emily Carr thanks to those Canadian Heritage commercials (you know you're a Canadian-born child when...).

So my dad kinda introduced me to this incredible artist Robert Bateman. He's a Canadian artist, who now lives in Oakville, and he does these incredible nature paintings. His attention to detail is spectacular and his paintings are awesome. They're so realistic that you would think he had taken a photograph, or painted them at the moment, but apparently alot of his paintings are comprised of his photography and his imagination. This is pretty cool, since his paintings are so life-like. Funny enough, he has once noted that if he had to choose between art and nature, he'd pick art. He was referring to the fact that some of scenes in his paintings, as real as they seem, would not have happened in real life (i.e. how animals are in nature) but they were painted the way they were because it just looked better. Nowadays, his paintings are more political-based, especially regarding the environment. His work is less about the beauty of nature, and more of the ugliness of environmental issues.

On Saturday night, I finally got to check out the new club, CiRCA. I had heard nothing but good things about this place but the one thing that really intrigued me was that of the dozen or so rooms they have, one of them was playing A-pop music. YES! BoA at a club? Nice.

Vicki and I agreed that I would bring my boys and she would bring hers and we met up somewhere between the washroom bar (yes, a bar in the washroom) and the 'A-pop' room. I will try to sum up my 'review' of this new club for those who are thinking of going:

Pro: Many rooms playing different songs made for good variety, especially when traveling with an entourage.

Con: Many All of the rooms were playing trance, or a variance of trance! Even the "hip hop" music was playing trance! 50 Cent + Trance beats = hip hop trance.

Pro: The A-pop Room paid homage to all that cutesy shit of A-pop culture, which was both fun and creepy at the same time.

Con: No A-pop music, and especially no BoA! Looks like all that was reserved for opening night.

Pro: Lots of different rooms with different themes made it so-not-boring. There were a lot of things to look at (i.e. live topless mannequins in the guys bathroom, costumed employees), so even if you are one of those people who just stand around at clubs, you were entertained. This place was like a museum-nightclub.

Con: Too many rooms! This place had 3 floors, and like, 3 different rooms on each floor! You bet your sweet ass with an entourage as large as ours we spent a good chunk of the time there looking for each other.

Pro: The crowd was nice. It was a mature clientele that night, so no weird Ecstasy-crazed youngster with glow sticks. Con: I'm not a girl, not yet a woman. I kinda felt like I was maybe 'too young' because the crowd was stylish and mature. I'm quite sure I saw a couple grandparents standing around swaying to the music. Pro: The door to the club was right next to the parking garage, PLUS they had indoor line-ups (basically having everyone come in through the back and line up in the garage). This also meant no need to coat-check. Con: It's a good thing the club was right next to the parking garage and they had indoor line ups, because I wasn't about to spend money on coat check after spending $15 on the cover! Overall, I'm a bit on the fence about CiRCA. I've been to better night clubs but I've also been to far worse (*ahem Metro*). We left CiRCA a bit earlier than usual (1:30 am) and didn't actually leave the parking garage until 2:30! Why? Oh man, long story. But let's just say I thought I had bad sense of direction until realizing Nick really needs to carry OnStar in his pocket at all times.

In the News...

I just read that Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his 'work' in global warming. What a joke. I didn't know they were just handing those things to just anyone now.

I'm not a global warming-denier (although right now I'm freezing my ass off in my office and want to believe it's a hoax), but geez. Global Warming is inevitable and nothing new. My dad discussed this with me before Inconvenient Truth and used to take public transportation to work voluntarily. To say that Al Gore deserves the Prize just because he brought attention to Global Warming is like me saying the water is blue and just making a really big deal about it. In my opinion, a big reason global warming is rapid (but not just inevitable) is because of overpopulation. Give me a mic and I'll tell everyone to use a condom and shower the world with latex wonders. Then see if I deserve the Prize. Psshhhh.

~~~

I'm trying to get rid of my Blackberry. Actually, I've already found a bidder, but I just need a new phone...or decide if I want to revert back to my old Motorola.

I don't see what the hype is about with the Blackberry. Sure, they're neat-o with the keyboard and make you look important with that logo and that distinctive speaker at the back. I must say, though, they're very convenient and very necessary for those who do most of their business on their phone. However, they're not for the everyday simple (yet fabulous) joes like me where the only real 'task' I have is to pay my bills on time and balancing my party time and my only real 'schedule' is meeting with my dentist between lunches with friends.

I hate that term 'Crackberry' for those who own one. I think those people who have real tasks (like running a business) and have real things to schedule like a meeting with an important client are the real Crackberrys. Always on their Berrys and are lost without them (or perhaps they're 'workaholics'?). I can easily do away with my heavy thing (or any cell phone, for that matter).

There was this article about the 'phantom shakes' that Crackberrys apparently get when their phone is not even going off or even on them. I'm not sure why it's been dubbed a 'phenomenon' because I truly believe we have a problem here. I, too, feel those 'shakes' and it scares me a little. I don't want it to go off, but I'm starting to believe it's a radiation problem.

People who carry Blackberrys will probably use that hip holster that is provided with their phone. Not to mention, the newer ones have some sort of magnet in it that I think might pose a health problem (yeah yeah, everything causes cancer). Hmm, the above-noted article seems to dumb down these 'shakes' and there is no indication that perhaps it's no 'phantom' but something very real. The article goes on to explain this 'phenomenon' as a result of "human beings are intuitive" bullshit. My intuition is that my Blackberry is some sort of mini nuclear power plant.

And now if you'll excuse me, my Blackberry says I have a party to get ready for.

Happy Birthday, BFF

Yeah, it's actually four days too late, but who's counting?

On Sunday night we went to Boston Pizza for Alex's birthday. Don't ask me why we did it on Sunday night. Would have made more sense to do it on Saturday, right? Apparently in Russia, they don't celebrate before the date, even if it's a day before. It either has to be on the day or after. I guess party-day is any day of the week in Russia. Isn't Monday a work day there too?

Same random hilarity as usual: Nam being Nam, poking fun at our flaws, playing with our food, criticizing Nam's outfit, being paprazzos... it's a good thing it was a Sunday night because there weren't too many people around to witness our rowdiness (and we weren't even drunk!).

After dinner (so much damn food, thank goodness for hungry boys), we went to AMC and saw We Own the Night. It was your basic cops-and-druglords kinda movie. S'OK. That huge scar on Joaquin Phoenix' lips was so distracting.

I know Alex doesn't really like being put in the centre of attention too much, even if it is his birthday. On Friday night he bitched at me because people were calling me and he assumed we were planning him a surprise! I felt kinda bad because we didn't really have anything planned that night, even though in the past two years we have tried feverishly to surprise him (SURPRISE! No surprise this year!). Even though he said he didn't want it, we all know he really did (don't lie!). LOL. C'mon! The look on his face when the cake came out was priceless!

Alex: "Man, I'm so glad we didn't go to a restaurant where they sing on your birthday..."

Moments later...

*Waiters come out singing with his birthday cake.*

SURPRISE!